Australia legend David Campese has criticised the standard of officiating at
the World Cup, saying "referees are there to ref, not for the world to
watch the ref".

With New Zealand's Bryce Lawrence facing an online petition calling for him never to referee again after his controversial handling of Australia's 11-9 quarter-final victory over defending champions South Africa last weekend, Campese said teams at the tournament were being forced to "play the referee".

"I think at some of the games, some of the skills have been very disappointing overall," Campese said. "It's a highly different game. The referees have a big influence on how you play."

This Sunday sees New Zealand play Australia in a World Cup semi-final, with one of the key confrontations set to be the battle of the opensides between All Black captain Richie McCaw and Wallaby flanker David Pocock.

Lawrence was widely criticised for letting Pocock do as he pleased at the breakdown against the Springboks, and Campese has said whoever comes out best on Sunday will be down to the whistle-blower, in this case South Africa's Craig Joubert.

"It depends on who's the referee and who gets away with what," said Campese, a member of Australia's 1991 World Cup-winning team.

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"The whole World Cup, it's been interesting. There were so many forward passes that were let go and all the time no crackdowns - tackling with no shoulders, no arms, and it's all let go. You've just got to play the referee."

Campese added there was no consistency in the control of scrums and breakdowns either.

"You saw some scrums right through the tournament that collapsed once and it's a penalty, and you saw other games where it's collapsed three or four times," he said.

"You've got to realise it's 800kg of men packing in. The thing is the referees have never packed in a scrum in their life - like me... so sometimes it's a lottery.

"That shouldn't be the case. The referees are there to ref, not for the world to watch the ref.

"If two countries play, then someone in the middle has got to control it, but the best referee is the one you don't know who's reffing."